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Millions of people have done everything recommended by professional financial advisors only to see their retirement funds dwindle or even disappear entirely in the global financial crisis. Does anyone really still believe that methods such as 'buy and hold' investing will protect them from risk? In "Payback Time", Phil Town - author of "New York Times" bestseller "Rule Number 1" - demonstrates the investment tactics that will enable you to ensure a safe and profitable financial future for yourself. Calling on time-proven strategies used by the world's best investors, he shows how you can reverse your nest egg's downward direction by purchasing the stock of solid companies at windfall prices - prices that can only head in one direction: up! This simple method will help you to achieve 15 per cent or better annual returns, with the least amount of risk. The time has never been better for making money in the stock market - if you know how.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Finally, an investment book that’s easy to understand and actually works in the real world. PAYBACK TIME will make a lot of people very, very rich!” --T. Harv Eker, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, SECRETS OF THE MILLIONAIRE MIND

“There's never been a better time then now to start over and finish rich! Recessions make millionaires and Phil Town's strategy for stockpiling wealth in the stock market is a fantastic vehicle for achieving that goal. You'll realize when you read this that it’s still possible to recapture your dreams of a richer, better future.” --David Bach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of START OVER, FINISH RICH and THE AUTOMATIC MILLIONAIRE

“Masterful in its insights...brilliant in its simplicity and practicality! With uncompromising clarity, Phil Town exposes the truth about how poorly mutual fund managers perform, then proceeds to teach a very precise methodology for finding, evaluating, and investing in valuable businesses. PAYBACK TIME is a must read for everyone who's ready to take complete control of their financial freedom, and wants to do so with confidence, safety, and sound investment principles.” --Tony Martinez, Founding Partner, Wealth Without Risk, LLC

“Town knows how to play by the rules in the ‘making big money’ game. Consider his book a gift to your financial library.” --Robyn Spizman, New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Giftionary.com

“An incredible book that will teach you how to achieve financial independence faster than you ever thought possible.”--Brian Tracy, President, Brian Tracy International

"Town has nailed it…PAYBACK TIME gives you the insight and mindset to maximize your investments.”--Joe Sweeney, President of Corporate Financial Advisors and author of NETWORKING IS A CONTACT SPORT

From the Hardcover edition.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Following several years with the Special Forces during the Vietnam war, Phil Town returned to the United States and supported himself by working seven months a year as a river guide in the Grand Canyon. His annual income was in the low four figures. After some split-second heroics on his part saved a boatload of Outward Bound trustees from a whitewater disaster, a grateful financial expert who had been onboard took Town under his wing and taught him the first principles of Rule #1 investing. Town managed to put together a $1000 stake, and within five years had turned it into $1 million. Today Town speaks to more than 500,000 people a year on the topic of risk-free wealth creation and is regularly a featured expert on MSNBC and CNBC. His first book, Rule #1, was a New York Times #1 bestseller.

More About the Author

Phil Town was working as a Colorado River rafting guide when one day his life changed forever. After saving a group from a whitewater disaster, Phil was rewarded by his client with a crash course on investing, based on Warren Buffett's investing principles. Today, Phil believes that educating others about those same financial principles has the potential to make a significant difference in the lives of others. A sought-after speaker and author, Phil has written two books about personal investing: Rule #1, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and his newly released Payback Time.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I've read Rule # 1 back when it first came out and I thought it was excellent. I'm about halfway done with Payback Time and so far 90% of the information is simply rehashed information from his first book. The one thing that appears to have changed is that MSN now apparently gives 10 year data for free, which was not available when Rule # 1 came out (back then you had to pay a third-party company to obtain 10-year data about a stock and MSN and Yahoo only offered 5-year data if I remember correctly). So if you haven't read either book and are wondering which one to pick up I would say go for the second one (Payback Time). If you've read Rule # 1, reading the second book certainly won't hurt for repetition sake, just don't expect any major new information. The concept of stockpiling is nothing revolutionary. Simply buy more shares when the price goes down. Wow. The one thing I did not like about Payback Time is how Phil is constantly directing the reader back to his website for every little piece of extra information. And he doesn't tell you what link on his site to click on for each piece of information so you end up randomly clicking on his site until you find what you're looking for (not to mention the fact that you have to register in order to use the site in the first place and it keeps on logging you out every few minutes for some reason).Having said that, I still have to give credit to Phil for his clear writing style. He has a special ability to take complex information and making it understandable to the average person. I also like the fact that he gives his email address in the book and encourages readers to contact him with any questions. I like that type of service. I will update this review as soon as I'm done reading the book.Read more ›

If you read and liked Rule #1 and are using that method, you probably will be disappointed in Payback Time. If Rule #1 seemed appealing, but was beyond what you could apply on your own, you'll probably find Payback Time easier to use.

I once attended a major investing seminar conducted by one of the most famous motivational speakers in the world. He spent two hours on an exercise where we were supposed to learn to buy low and sell high. Most people were delighted with that lesson, even though we only learned the principle . . . not how to implement it. I was shocked to see how little it takes to please those who don't know much about stock investing. But I assume you are well beyond that level.

If you are fan of Rule #1 (as I am), let me cut to the chase: Payback Time primarily gives you a buy-low-and-hold version of Rule #1 along with an update concerning online resources available and a more complete Web site to help you perform the details. Of the two books, Rule #1 is for those who want to be very active investors. Payback Time is for those who want to do less work and pay less attention to the market day-to-day.

Lest you take that point lightly, let me mention that I once had a book contract to write a similar book. I returned the contract after a few months of struggling to explain in simple language with not too many words how to do some similar evaluations. I found it to be harder than it was worth doing. As a result, I admire Phil Town for sticking with his writing to produce a book that is clear, simple, and not too hard to implement.

Do I take exception to anything he had to say? Sure I do. Anyone would. But the advice is pretty sound.Read more ›

Ok, I'll try to be concise here. I like the book. Yes, some of the concepts in Rule #1 are re-hashed here, but I thought the presentation from this book was better. If you buy the book, however, you'll see that you are offered a "scholarship" to attend a Payback Time workshop for free, which I decided to attend. As most people know, very few things in life are for free. As I expected from the "free" 2-day workshop, it was a technique to get people interested in purchasing additional training and access to software tools/data which have been developed specifically for using the techniques outlined by Phil in the book to find good companies to invest in. For the most part, the free workshop covered what was in the book, and there was some introductory coverage of options as well. It was nice to have someone available to address audience questions from topics not understood from the book, but I was disappointed that about half of the workshop time morphed into discussion about buying the tools/data & training. What really surprised me though is the book focused mostly on "investing", but the trainers talked a lot about "trading", especially with options. While I thought the tools/training looked pretty good, even the lowest package they offered was for $5,000 (which was for 6 months access to the tools/data), it felt like for me to spend that much money, I would really need to spend a lot of time learning, paper trading, and watching the markets, which I really don't have. I'd love to quit my job and be a trader, but in this economy it feels too risky right now. It's too bad that Phil doesn't blog/share a little more often for free on his website ([...]) so I could've better followed his ideas in advance of attending the class.Read more ›